Kinases and Glutathione Transferases: Selective and Sensitive Targeting

Abstract

Kinases, representing almost 500 proteins in the human genome, are responsible for catalyzing the phosphorylation reaction of amino acid residues at their targets. As the largest family of kinases, the protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) have roles in controlling the essential cellular activities, and their deregulation is generally related to pathologic conditions. The recent efforts on identifying their signal transducer or mediator role in cellular signaling revealed the interaction of PTKs with numerous enzymes of different classes, such as Ser/Thr kinases (STKs), glutathione transferases (GSTs), and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). In either regulation or enhancing the signaling, PTKs are determined in close interaction with these enzymes, under specific cellular conditions, such as oxidative stress and inflammation. In this concept, intensive research on thiol metabolizing enzymes recently showed their involvement in the physiologic functions in cellular signaling besides their well known traditional role in antioxidant defense. The shared signaling components between PTK and GST family enzymes will be discussed in depth in this research review to evaluate the results of recent studies important in drug targeting for therapeutic intervention, such as cell viability, migration, differentiation and proliferation. © Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.